


Secured

by Hours_Gone_By



Series: AU Yeah AUgust 2019 [3]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cruise Ship, Alternate Universe - Thieves, Betrayal, Crimes & Criminals, Cruise Ships, Discussion of Murder Statistics, Discussion of Suicide Statistics, Enforcers (Transformers) - Freeform, Gen, Half-Siblings, Implied/Referenced Possibility of Suicide, Infidelity, Lawyers, Murder, Murder Mystery, Spaceships, au yeah august
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 20:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20180326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hours_Gone_By/pseuds/Hours_Gone_By
Summary: Security Chief Prowl must solve the mysterious thefts occurring aboard the Autobot cruise linerVapour Trail- and a murder that may or may not be connected.





	Secured

**Author's Note:**

> Written for AU Yeah AUgust 2019 Day 3 – Cruise Ship.
> 
> For a breakdown of the time units used here, see 12drakon's [Cybertronian time units: base 2](https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/4865111).

Prowl, Security Chief of the interstellar cruise ship _Vapour Trail, _generally enjoyed his work. It was a change of pace from being part of the Iacon Mechaforensics Division although after this tour he did intend to return to his work as an Enforcer. His staff was small, consisting of Deputy Chief Nightstalker who worked the, well, night shifts, Crew Security Head Barricade, and twenty-four security guards, four for each deck of passenger cabins and two for the crew decks. Most of what he dealt with was accident reports and locating items lost by careless – or intoxicated – guests. This trip, however, was already promising to be different. There had been three thefts from locked staterooms already, and they were only a third of the way into a three-deca-cycle trip. Prowl had increased security where he could – which largely consisted of putting security decals on the regular crew to make the passengers feel better – but wasn't worried himself. The ship was a closed environment. The items and the thief didn't have anywhere to go and so long as they were in space, time was on Prowl's side.

The passengers were demanding that something be done, but the captain wouldn't let Prowl make any visible changes to security, especially adding officers to areas where they weren't usually seen. While security on the entertainment and promenade decks was primarily done by an extensive, and discreet, security system. _Vapour Trail_'s passengers were generally wealthy and anything more than a guard or two on the decks where their belongings were stored tended to upset them. Somehow this maintained the illusion that security was only watching out _for_ them, instead of just watching them, and that the wealthy and noble would never ever misbehave.

Prowl, who had worked as an Enforcer most of his existence, knew better. The wealthy and noble behaved precisely as any other mecha did, or worse, but their wealth and position let them get away with it. But no matter how much money and power you had, you could still die like anyone else: Prowl was standing over proof of that right now, a highly-ranked passenger with an energon dagger still gently sizzling in their spark chamber.

"It's virtually identical to the break-ins," Barricade told Prowl. Two of their guards were outside, preventing anyone but the ship's doctor from entering. Prowl hoped the mech knew how to do a full-body autopsy. "I've checked the security cameras, and I didn't see anyone enter or leave the whole evening except the two occupants. However the thief got in, it wasn't through the front door.

"Once the body's been removed, I'll ask the victim's partner to look and see if anything's missing, but my guess is that the thief was interrupted and killed the passenger so they could escape."

"Maybe." Prowl scanned the room, taking in every possible piece of data, and analyzing it in just under a nanoklik. "What was the passenger's designation?"

"Highwire of Uraya. He was travelling with his partner Crosstalk of Ibex. I've already checked the recordings," Barricade added, "and they were together on the promenade until the tenth joor, then Highwire left, and Crosstalk stayed. I've got plenty of security footage of her from multiple angles."

"That just means she didn't commit it herself," Prowl said absently. "Were Highwire and Crosstalk travelling with servants?"

"No, it was just the two of them. The stateroom has space for a servant, but they weren't using it. I've already checked it, and it's empty, doesn't look like anyone's been in there for the entire trip except cleaning drones."

"Check that," Prowl ordered. The servant's quarters could be entered separately from the stateroom, but the entrances still shared a corridor. Anyone entering or exiting them would show up on the external security cameras just as well as someone using the main door. "I'm going to look at them myself."

Prowl could tell Barricade didn't like having Prowl recheck his work, but the Crew Security Head didn't say anything. Prowl performed an analysis identical to the one he'd done on the stateroom to the servant's quarters and found, just barely visible, one of the panels in the wainscoting was pulled forward. It wasn't by much, just a few milli-mechanometres, and Prowl wasn't surprised it had been missed. If this _was_ their thief, it was the first clue they'd left behind, perhaps because they were panicked after committing a murder. It was a much smaller error than Prowl would have expected for a first-time killer.

Prowl left Barricade in charge of accompanying the body to the ship's morgue and summoned a maintenance worker to open the panelling for him. The worker was Bumblebee, a cheerful yellow mini-bot who doubled as security when Prowl needed extra personnel.

"Sure, I can get that open for you, Prowl," Bumblebee said agreeably. "No problem. They're designed to be removable in case we need to do work inside the walls. You know, vents, conduits, plumbing, stateroom computer compo – oh."

"Oh?" Prowl echoed. Bumblebee had cut off as soon as he'd unlocked the panel with a magnetic key and gotten a look inside the wall, but he was still in front of it, and Prowl couldn't quite see.

"Well, there's supposed to be a power conduit right behind this wall, but it looks either it got moved at some point, or the builders didn't follow the plans. Look." Bumblebee moved to one side, and now Prowl could see a gap, big enough for a small-to-average-sized mech to fit inside.

"Why wasn't this noted anywhere?" Prowl demanded.

Bumblebee shrugged. "The ship's pretty new. I'm checking the maintenance logs now, but I'd guess that – yeah. No one's had to open up the walls before, so no one knew."

"Someone did," Prowl said grimly. "Bumblebee. Find out where this goes and if there's any way to determine how far off from spec _Vapour Trail_ was built. I want updated plans as soon as possible."

"Sure thing, boss," Bumblebee said. "Want me to keep an open comm channel with you while I'm in here?"

"Yes. Include a locator ping, and I'll follow along with you as best I can from the corridor." There wasn't much Prowl could do from outside, but if their thief/murderer had left any clues, Bumblebee might be able to track them back to wherever they were staying. "Do not take any risks. If you believe you may be compromised, exit the crawlspace as soon as possible." He might interrupt something, but they could apologize to any offended passengers later, once Bumblebee was safe.

Prowl paced the corridors while Bumblebee crawled through the walls, occasionally having to stop and wait for the smaller mech to find their way around. Prowl recorded Bumblebee's locator pings and used them to make a rough map of the crawlspace, growing more annoyed as he realized just how far off from the ship's schematics the interiors of the walls must be. How was he supposed to do his job with incorrect information?

After three breems of Bumblebee crawling around between the walls and under the floors, Prowl called a halt to the experiment.

"I don't mind if you want me to keep going," Bumblebee said when they met again in the servant's quarters where he'd entered the crawlspace. "It's sized for minibots – we usually do maintenance on ships like these anyway. This one's actually on the larger side."

"Not necessary," Prowl said. "I have multiple security drones I can release into the crawlspace to determine where it goes. That will be faster." And more efficient because he could program them with mapping software. "You may return to your duties."

Prowl had to go see the ship's doctor, but first, he stopped by his office and downloaded the map he'd made using Bumblebee's location data to a terminal. He had the terminal compare the map with the internal schematics of similar ships and set an alert to ping him when the search was finished. The locator data was too regular and the crawlspace too long for it to merely be the result of careless workers making mistakes or not following directions. Prowl wanted better data, and he wanted to be able to plan before he went after the perpetrator.

Highwire's body was in stasis in the ship's morgue. Although the ship's doctor, Hoist, had done a visual inspection, accessed the victim's systems to ascertain the time of death, and performed some scans, he hadn't done a full autopsy or even removed the energon knife.

"I thought, seeing as I'm not qualified to perform autopsies, let alone full-body ones as you requested, I ought to avoid making changes to the body," Hoist explained as he pulled Highwire's drawer out. "Didn't want to do more harm than good, you know."

"Did your scans find anything other than the obvious cause of death?" Prowl asked.

"No," Hoist replied. "There is no evidence of syk, circuit boosters, or other drugs or poison. Only a small amount of quality high-grade in his systems but not enough to cause even minor intoxication. The knife wound is the only wound on the body. His systems went offline at 1407 joor plus four nano-kliks."

"No evidence of a struggle?"

"None," Hoist confirmed. "Highwire was in perfect form up until his spark was disrupted by the energon dagger, resulting in it being extinguished."

"So he was most likely killed by someone he knew or someone who surprised him, and he didn't get a chance to react in time," Prowl concluded. Statistically, most murder victims were killed by someone known to them, after all. That did not explain how the killer had entered and exited the stateroom without being seen on the cameras. "Is there any chance it could have been suicide?"

"I don't see how, old chap," Hoist said, after a moment's thought. "Though again, I'm not a pathologist so it's not likely I'd know what to look for. Doesn't seem a likely way to commit suicide, though, does it?"

"No, suicide by stabbing is extremely rare," Prowl agreed. Besides, the body had been found in the middle of the room, an unlikely location for a suicidal individual to choose. "I will proceed with a murder inquiry, thank you."

Prowl was on leave, but he was still an Enforcer and as _Vapour Trail _was registered out of Iacon, still empowered to perform an investigation. Company policy stated that anyone apprehended committing a crime aboard ship was to be held in the ship's secure holding facilities and turned over to the authorities at the nearest port. Prowl would not be involved in any manner of prosecution, save perhaps as a witness, but he could, and would, provide law enforcement with what evidence he had gathered.

His search alert sounded as he headed back to his office. As soon as he got in, Prowl checked the results of the search and swore at it. The map he had obtained through Bumblebee's locator data didn't come close to matching _Vapour Trail_'s schematics. It _did _most closely match the schematics of a similar model of cruise liner, enough so that it would have taken a minimal adjustment to make those requirements work in _Vapour Trail_'s walls. There was a crawlspace running between the floors and accessible from the servant's quarters in each of the upper-class staterooms. If a passenger figured out how to access it, and it _should have _required a key, they could get from one stateroom to another completely unseen.

Prowl wondered who had made the change to the construction and plans and whether it was intentional or accidental. If it was intentional, he wondered who had profited from it the most.

But that was a problem for another time, and for the Fraud division back in Iacon, where _Vapour Trail _was registered. Prowl's concerns right now were centred around the more immediate issues of murder and theft. 

At least now he had more accurate specs for the crawlspace. Prowl retrieved several spider drones, usually used to look for maintenance-related issues in difficult-to-access areas of the ship. Multiple drones in the crawlspace, actively recording potential evidence, would be more efficient than using a single mini-bot volunteer. Prowl could possibly have asked for additional volunteers, but he didn't want to pull too many crew members away from their duties. Everything should be seen to continue as usual.

Uploading a program to the drones that would give them some direction on what they were looking for took only a klik. Prowl returned to the crime scene – Crosstalk had been moved elsewhere by Barricade and other security personnel – and released the drones into the crawlspace. They vanished silently, following their individual instructions, and Prowl once again returned to the security office, this time to watch the feeds from the drones. It was dull, monotonous work but it had to be done.

It took several cycles, but Prowl finally saw something in the feeds that interested him. It was subtle, and he had to take remote control of the drone and return it to that point before he could get a good look at it. But his patience was rewarded: the panel leading to the crawlspace was, in that one stateroom's servant quarters, showing just a little more wear than the rest.

Smiling triumphantly, Prowl cross-referenced the drone's location with the ship's schematic – at least the cabin locations could be trusted – and determined which stateroom it was. A check of the passenger manifest told him who was staying in that stateroom. Power and cleanser usage records confirmed that the servant's quarters were being used. Of course, that didn't mean that the servant was automatically a suspect. Their employer could just as easily have accessed the servant's quarters and the crawlspace. Prowl wasn't sure yet how they'd bypassed the magnetic lock to access the spaces behind the walls, but that would come. It was most likely some manner of simple spoofing device.

The stateroom was booked by one Ricochet of Staniz, and his party included a single servant, listed as Stepper of Staniz. Prowl accessed their images and ran a facial recognition search through the security recordings to determine their locations during each theft and the murder. The recordings provided an alibi for Ricochet but not his servant. That was perhaps not surprising since servants did much of their work when their employers were away and would rarely be able to socialize at that time. But Stepper was a body servant, and unless his duties included more than cleaning, painting, and polishing his employer, he wouldn't usually have much to do while Ricochet was away. Servants did socialize with other servants, and with the ship's crew and Prowl was certainly aware that people often sought solitude. He did himself, quite frequently. But while it didn't automatically mean Stepper was guilty, it did mean Prowl had to talk to him.

Ricochet and Stepper weren't in the top-tier of passenger accommodations, but their stateroom was one of the more expensive ones. Prowl, expecting difficulty for that fact alone, went by himself with Barricade nearby for backup if he needed it.

When the door opened, Prowl recognized Stepper from his ID photo in the crew manifest but pinged his RFID out of habit anyway. A mech without Enforcer programming would never have questioned it, but Prowl still ran his verification protocols, and they alerted him that the ID was broadcasting falsified information.

"Good evening," Stepper said politely. "I'm afraid Ser Ricochet isn't available at the moment. May I help you, Chief?"

"May I come in?" Prowl asked, not particularly wanting to do this in the hallway, or give Stepper a chance to lock himself in the stateroom. Prowl had overrides but nano-kliks counted during an investigation.

Stepper leaned against the doorframe. "Maybe. You'll have to tell me what this is about, first."

_Not a servant_ was Prowl's immediate thought. A servant would have agreed, would not have wanted their employer embarrassed by having a security officer visible at their stateroom door.

"I believe your stateroom may have been targeted by a thief," Prowl lied, looking over the other mech's shoulder into the room. "I want to enter and perform a security check."

Stepper didn't move. "And you came yourself instead of sending one of your officers? Uh-uh This is more than just a check."

"What is it you do for Ricochet?" Prowl changed tack, trying to catch the other mech off guard.

"Body servant." The mech continued, undeterred. "What's your real reason for wanting to come in?"

But Prowl had caught sight of something in the stateroom, something that shouldn't have been there. He took a capture, zoomed in on it – yes, it was one of the stolen items. Prowl clamped down on Stepper's upper arm to ensure he couldn't get away.

"Stepper of Staniz, I'm placing you under arrest for theft," Prowl said firmly, locking his fingers so the other mech couldn't yank away.

"What?" Stepper protested. "What makes you think I stole anything?"

"I can see one of the stolen items behind you," Prowl informed him.

"Uh – slag. No warrant?" Stepper tried.

"Plain view exception," Prowl countered. "I don't need a warrant if I can see it out in the open." Stepper tried to interrupt, but Prowl only raised his voice slightly and kept going, reiterating the reason for arrest and giving Stepper his rights. Then he took the fortunately compliant mech down to the security office for processing.

"I can give the stuff back?" Stepper sounded hopeful. "No one's actually pressed charges yet, right? Plus I don't have a record."

In Prowl's experience, no one who could figure out how to use the crawlspaces to commit a crime was someone who didn't have a record.

"Stepper of Staniz doesn't have a record, that's true," Prowl said. "What is your real designation and place of origin?"

"I told you, mech," the servant protested. "My name is Stepper, and I'm here as Ser Ricochet's body servant."

"Your false RFID may have convinced Ricochet of Staniz," Prowl informed him, "but I can tell it's broadcasting false information. What is your real designation and place of origin?"

Stepper sat back. "Damn," they muttered admiringly. "_You're_ no rent-a-cop. You're the real deal, ain't you? Praxus Enforcers?"

"Iacon Mechaforensics Division." Prowl had served in the Praxus Enforcers before he'd transferred to Iacon, but there was no need for Stepper to know that.

"Well. No wonder you caught me, then. So what happens now?" Stepper brightened. "There's an empty stateroom down on P3, was closed for repairs when the ship launched. Maintenance has gotta be done by now. You could lock me in there?"

"Even if you hadn't already proved you can get in and out of every stateroom on the ship whenever you wish," Prowl said drily, folding his arms, "no. You'll be placed in a holding room in the security area, and escorted from the ship when we reach the next port."

"Look, I don't know how that whatever-it-was got into the stateroom," Stepper tried. "You sure it's the right thing? Not just some fad Ricochet picked up along with a bunch of other rich mecha?"

"I'm sure." Prowl knew but didn't tell Stepper that the stolen piece was custom and it was unlikely it would have a duplicate. "Earlier you also attempted to steal from Passenger Stateroom A3. We found the panel you used to gain entry from the crawlspace."

"Prove – wait." Stepper folded his arms. "You said 'attempted,' but you didn't arrest me for 'attempted theft,' just actual theft. What's going on?"

"One of the inhabitants of that stateroom was murdered," Prowl said bluntly.

Stepper looked shocked; Prowl believed, based on experience and the readings a quick passive scan gave him, that the other mech's reaction was genuine.

"You think I did it?" Stepper asked, incredulity and horror mixed. "But I – okay, look, fine. I stole some stuff, but I didn't kill anyone! Look, I'll broadcast my real RFID, and you can check my actual identity, okay?"

"Very well."

Stepper did as promised, and Prowl verified that it was their valid RFID: Jazz of Staniz. Prowl left briefly to verify the identity and, while there were some petty crimes committed as a juvenile, they were not the kind to indicate the perpetrator was likely to become violent. He also could not find any indication that Jazz and the victim might ever have met. Highwire had lived on Luna-1 and Prowl couldn't find any sign he'd been to Cybertron during Jazz's lifetime. Similarly, there was no evidence that Jazz, under either identity, or Ricochet had ever previously left Cybertron. That did not preclude the possibility they had met on the ship. Highwire was unlikely to have let a mech he didn't know get close enough to stab him without fighting back.

"I've verified your identity, Jazz, and checked your record," Prowl told him. "When were you in Stateroom A3?"

"Around the fourteenth joor?" Jazz hazarded. "Yeah. I was in the crawlspace, coming out, and I heard two mecha come in. They were talking – servants rooms aren't well soundproofed so you can hear if you're called – but I couldn't really make it out. Then they started to argue, and I just left."

"Where did you go from there?"

"Back to my employer's stateroom."

"Were you alone?"

"Until Ricochet got back at about 0130 joor, yeah," Jazz replied.

"You didn't commit another theft?" Prowl persisted, messaging Nightstalker to check the security cameras for verification. "You were already in the crawlspace."

"No, I went straight back." Jazz sighed. "Look, I know we're gonna get to this, probably, so why don't I just go ahead and download the memory files?"

Prowl frowned. Memory files could be falsified, but it took time. Jazz would have had to have forged them in anticipation of being arrested or questioned under suspicion of murder and Prowl did not think he'd expected to be caught. Certainly, someone who had expected to be arrested would likely have a better alibi than 'I was alone.' Unfortunately, even when the suspect volunteered memory files, they had to be mirrored under the supervision of a qualified physician or the suspect's attorney to be admissible as evidence. Hoist was unfortunately not certified to perform that particular procedure.

"I don't have a physician qualified to supervise the procedure available," Prowl told him. "Your files would not be admissible in court.

"Can do it if my lawyer's around, though, right?" Jazz asked. "Or – don't know if it's different in Iacon – will it matter if my lawyer and my sib are the same person? Ricochet and I share a sator."

That was surprising. "So you're Ricochet's…?"

"Half-sibling, yeah. His Sator had an affair with my Creator who was working at the estate, and – yeah." Jazz shrugged. "Along came me a stellar-cycle later. Our Sator would never formally acknowledge me, even though everyone knew, so Rico brought me on as 'body servant.' That way, he could make sure I had some support _and_ frag Sator off. My sib doesn't even ask me to do that much work. I've got it pretty easy, actually."

"You're an awfully accomplished thief for a servant's creation that holds a largely ceremonial position," Prowl observed drily.

"Gotta have a hobby. I started boosting stuff from Sator's guests – snobby fraggers don't wanna give me the time of day, and that's fine, but they started cutting Rico dead at their fancy parties, and _no one_ messes with my sib like that!" Jazz sat back, looking pleased with himself. "Anytime someone insulted Rico something of theirs'd go missing. If they figured out the connection and got their heads outta their tailpipes and gave Rico an apology, hey! Back comes their stuff."

"So you're stealing to avenge insults to your sibling," Prowl translated. There was no record of arrests, but he could see how the upper-class wouldn't want the embarrassment of it being known they'd let a servant get the better of them. "What did Highwire do?"

"Not Highwire," Jazz corrected. "Crosstalk. Rico had an intended and, long story, they broke up right before the cruise. Like, _right_ before. Crosstalk made a nasty crack about that cause I guess she and Rico's intended's creators are friends or something like that. I was just gonna boost some armour inlays, sentimentally-valued stuff more than anything, see if it'd teach her, but you know what happened instead."

Prowl kept his opinion on Jazz's method of taking revenge on his sibling's offenders to himself. It wasn't the most important thing right now. "Your lawyer is still acceptable if they're your sibling, yes."

Prowl let Jazz make the call, and Ricochet came to the security offices right away. His reaction was the reaction of a sibling, not a lawyer.

"Dammit Jazz," was the first thing he said. "Did you get caught stealing?"

"I didn't get caught in the act!" Jazz protested. "I wasn't expecting a cop to show up at the door!"

"Jazz – "

"If," Prowl interrupted the incipient sibling argument, "we could proceed?"

"Jazz isn't required to provide you with his memories without an arrest warrant and a qualified physician overseeing the procedure," Ricochet reminded Prowl.

"I volunteered, Rico," Jazz told him. "The mech who was in the room I was gonna steal from was murdered. He's gotta make sure I didn't do it."

"Which you didn't," Ricochet said, staring meaningfully down at his sibling.

"'Course I didn't!" Jazz objected. "I steal scrap, yeah, but I'm not gonna _kill_ someone. Primus, Rico!"

"Fine. And you're doing this against legal advice?" Ricochet confirmed.

"Yup!"

"Very well, if you're determined to go ahead," Ricochet said and looked at Prowl. "How do you want this? Secure chip?"

"A secure chip will be fine," Prowl replied. He had already prepared one in a transfer frame, a device that held the chip for data transfer and which Jazz, and later Prowl, could simply jack into, and now he placed it on the table. "Proceed when you're ready."

"No time like the present." Jazz transferred his memories of the events that had possibly occurred before Highwire's murder. "There you go."

"Thank you," Prowl said calmly and plugged a data stick into the frame so he could run a scan for malware, then verify that the files were genuine memory files and had not been altered.

"Jazz, shut up," Ricochet said unexpectedly, apparently picking up on some cue Prowl had missed. They had a brief, sibling-esque, _sotto voce _squabble that Prowl didn't bother to actively analyze, though he did passively analyze for tone and keywords.

Once the malware and verification scans had run, Prowl interrupted a conversation that seemed to be variations on 'wasn't gonna!' and 'well, _don't_.'

"I'm going to review your memory files now, Jazz," Prowl said. "Is there anything you wish to add before I do so?"

Jazz leaned back in his chair, arms folded. "Nope."

Prowl jacked into the transfer frame and let Jazz's memories play over his HUD, focusing mostly on what Jazz had overheard. The visuals weren't particularly interesting, just a floor-level view of the servant's quarters. The audio was difficult to hear, especially since Jazz began to leave before it ended, and Prowl extracted it for further analysis. The timestamp on the unaltered memory confirmed that Jazz had not been present in Highwire's stateroom during the murder.

"Happy?" Jazz asked when Prowl disconnected from the transfer frame.

"I'm satisfied you did not commit the murder, yes," Prowl confirmed. "However," he added as Jazz began to rise, "you are still under arrest for theft. You will be held in our secure rooms until the ship docks at the next port, where you will be put you off the ship and arrested by the local authorities."

"Might wanna find out if any of the mecha whose stuff I nabbed are gonna press charges first," Jazz pointed out. "Guessing the answer's gonna be 'no.' Outsmarted by a servant, and a literal bastard at that? None of those snobby nobles are gonna admit to that. Maybe you could get me on trespass for using the crawlspaces, but then it'd come out just how the cruise line cuts corners when it's building its ships. Company lawyers will quash it in no time."

"Perhaps," Prowl allowed, acknowledging the truth of the matter even if he disliked it. "But unless or until they do, you are still under arrest aboard _Vapour Trail_."

"And because he's aboard the ship he's not a flight risk," Ricochet added.

"He's a thief who can get into and out of any stateroom on the ship," Prowl countered.

"Jazz has proven himself to be cooperative," Ricochet argued. "As you are both the arresting officer and the officer in charge, I request my client be released on recognizance, which I will cover."

"So you're willing to cover the cost of recognizance if he breaches the conditions of his release?" Prowl asked, for confirmation. Ricochet was correct that Jazz had proven himself to be cooperative. Given Jazz's reason for his theft, he was unlikely to violate the conditions of his release if it would cost his sibling.

"I am."

Very well, then. Prowl agreed to release Jazz on recognizance, and the door to the security office hadn't quite closed before he heard Ricochet begin an exasperated lecture of his sibling. Prowl sent a message to Maintenance to see if they could lock the crawlspace access in the Jazz's room, and made sure a camera was actively recording both doors to the stateroom. He didn't think Jazz would steal again, but it didn't hurt to be careful.

Prowl made himself a cup of hot oil, with a slightly bitter edge to help keep him awake. It was past his shift, but the murder took priority. He was running the audio extracted from Jazz's memory file through a series of programs and filters designed to amplify and identify the second voice. Prowl believed the second voice was most probably that of Highwire's killer. He also ran an analysis of the recorded security feed outside of Highwire and Crosstalk's stateroom, looking for anomalies. He thought it unlikely that anyone would have, say, a holo-generator or a disruption net that would hide their appearance, but it also didn't hurt to check.

While he waited for the analyses to finish, Nightstalker spoke with him briefly, and Prowl brought his Deputy Chief up to speed on the events of the day. Nightstalker seemed surprised that Prowl had let Jazz go on recognizance but didn't question it. He was, justifiably Prowl thought, more concerned with the existence of the crawlspace between staterooms. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that could be done with such a widespread problem while _Vapour Trail_ was in flight. The ship would need time in drydock to make the crawlspace inaccessible, or at least less inaccessible to anyone but the maintenance crew.

Once Nightstalker returned to his duties, Prowl continued to wait, playing a strategy game on his HUD as he did so. It took a joor and a half for the security camera analysis to run, with the audio analysis only a five kliks behind. Prowl checked the camera analysis while he waited, unsurprised to see that it had found no evidence of holo or disruption technology. What _did _surprise him was the report that several kliks of the recording had been erased and earlier footage spliced in to create a loop.

Two kliks left on the audio analysis. Prowl tried to locate the login credentials for whoever had last changed the security recordings, but the last access was read-only. That only meant that the access records had been altered as well. The most logical suspect was whoever had killed Highwire, and therefore likely the person whose voice was on the audio recording. Prowl tapped his fingers impatiently through the final nano-kliks of the analysis' run-time, and when it was finished, he opened it and went straight to the results.

Only nano-kliks later he bolted from his chair intending to go to Ricochet's stateroom. If Jazz –

Prowl's rush, and his train of thought, stopped when he saw Nightstalker sitting, despondent, in a chair in the main room of the security offices. The other mech held out the stasis cuffs he had in one hand, not even looking up.

"I guess you know," Nightstalker said quietly. "I'll cooperate."

Prowl believed him but still approached cautiously, taking the stasis cuffs from his, now former, Deputy Chief. Nightstalker submitted to being cuffed and taken to the room he'd questioned Jazz in. Prowl felt betrayed, helpless, but he did his job correctly, making sure the camera was recording and repeating Nightstalker's rights.

"Why?" Prowl asked once all that was done.

"I knew him from a previous cruise," Nightstalker said. "H-highw-wire. We started talking, somehow – can't remember why – and we started having an affair. Long-distance, or whenever I was in port on Luna-1. He kept promising he was going to break things off with her." Prowl presumed he meant Crosstalk. "Then they showed up here, together, hanging off each other – I just wanted an answer!" he burst out, finally looking up. "I just went there to talk, and he told me he wouldn't leave her. He said – I guess the usual. He wasn't going to, he didn't love me just wanted me on the side. Said I should have known."

"So you killed him," Prowl said flatly.

"I didn't mean to. It's surreal, it feels like the knife was just in my hand, like I watched someone else do it. I – Prowl, I'm – "

"_Don't_." Prowl didn't know what he wanted to do. He didn't know how he felt. Betrayed? Furious? Disbelieving? He shoved back from the table and stood up. "Don't."

Prowl stalked out of the room, wishing he could relieve his feelings by-by striking a wall or flipping a table, or maybe just by getting very, very overcharged. But the tables were fixed to the floor, in case the artificial gravity failed, and dents on the wall would have to be explained. Instead, he went to alert the captain, contact the Enforcers at the nearest port, then explain what had happened to his staff. Prowl might not know how he felt just then, but there was comfort in procedure.

He could deal with emotion afterwards.

* * *

In Iacon, Prowl would have thrown himself into his work to cope with his feelings over Nightstalker's actions. Aboard _Vapour Trail_ there simply wasn't enough work for him to do that and even Prowl could only train for so long, especially with the ship's limited facilities. Whenever he was in his office, he felt the presence of Nightstalker, silent and sorry, in the secure holding rooms. Fortunately, it wasn't long to the next port, so Prowl only had to deal with it for a few cycles. He would not interact with Nightstalker again until the time came for the handover to spaceport's Enforcers. He also had to transfer Jazz to their care. Nightstalker already knew what would happen, but Jazz needed to be informed. Prowl visited Jazz the first shift of the cycle _Vapour Trail _was scheduled to dock to do so.

This time, Jazz let him in. Ricochet was there as well, and Prowl wondered if he'd known this was coming or if he were keeping a closer watch on his sibling.

"What can we do for you, mech?" Jazz asked. "Not sure what else I can tell you 'bout that day – and I already gave all the stuff back."

"Not by going through the walls," Ricochet put in.

Prowl was aware since he'd had maintenance put a lock on the entry panel in Jazz's room, from inside the crawlspace. He didn't alert Jazz to this.

"The perpetrator has been arrested and will be remanded to Enforcer custody when we dock," Prowl told them. Crosstalk had, understandably, not kept silent about her partner's murder and, while she didn't know it was Nightstalker, she did know someone had been arrested. Word had undoubtedly gotten around the ship.

Jazz nodded. "Good. Why're you here, then?"

"You will also be remanded to Enforcer custody when we dock," Prowl informed him. 

Jazz looked nonplussed. "You're serious about that."

"I am."

"Aw, c'mon, mech! I helped you out!"

"Helping me was to your benefit, and does not change the fact that you broke the law," Prowl reminded him. "I must hand you over to the custody of the proper authorities. What they do from there is out of my hands."

Jazz sighed. "Okay, well, guess there's no point trying to talk you out of it. But you know it'll probably be a revolving door." Jazz made a little spinning motion with his hand to indicate how fast he'd be in and out. "Even if you don't let me back on the ship I'll be back on Cybertron before you know it. Maybe even about _Vapour Trail _again. Y'know, 'cause my cruise this time got a little bit interrupted."

Prowl chose not to respond to that. He rose. "Report to Airlock 3B tomorrow by 0730 joor, where you will be turned over to the port Enforcers. Failure to comply will result in additional charges."

"Okay, okay," Jazz sighed again. "See you tomorrow, Prowl."

Prowl left but could not avoid hearing, as the door swished shut, Jazz's not at all quiet addition of, "and hopefully sometime after."

Primus, Prowl hoped not.

**Author's Note:**

> Cruise ships do, in fact, have morgues. [[Source](https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=1631)] They also have jails, and yes, you will be escorted from the ship at the next port and charged under the laws of whatever country that is if you commit a crime aboard one. [[Source](https://www.express.co.uk/travel/cruise/862762/cruise-ship-secrets-prison)] The part about Prowl being able to perform an investigation I'm making up out of whole cloth.
> 
> According to Statistics Canada, in 2017 "...four out of five victims of solved homicides in 2017 knew their killer." [[Source](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2018001/article/54980-eng.htm#a18)]
> 
> According to the Journal of Emergencies, Trauma, and Shock (2012), "Suicide by means of self-inflicted stab wounds is relatively uncommon and little is known about this population and their management." [[Source](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3440888/)]


End file.
